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Marion loses ground in most FCAT categories

Marion County Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn, shown in this May 13, 2014 file photo, was "disappointed" by FCAT scores. "But even though our scores are lower, we cannot overlook the hard work of the teachers and administrators, he said.

Published: Friday, June 6, 2014 at 11:34 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, June 6, 2014 at 11:34 a.m.

Marion County students lost more ground on the state average at most every grade level on this year's reading, math and science FCAT, according to results released by the state Department of Education on Friday.

Facts

Losing ground

Results in 14 FCAT categories (fourth- through 10th-grade reading, math and science) were released on Friday.

The release of the fourth- through 10th-grade scores comes just two weeks after the school district learned it had also lost ground in third-grade reading and math on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Of all 14 reading, math and science categories announced on Friday, Marion lost ground to the state in 10. Including third-grade reading and math, Marion lost ground in 12 of the 16 FCAT categories this year.

"I know they (the administration) have 1,001 excuses," School Board member Ron Crawford said Friday. "I don't want to play the blame game, but we need to immediately start looking at what happened this year. I am frustrated."

Marion County trails the state in 15 of the 16 FCAT categories. Even though Marion's eighth-graders scored 2 percentage points lower this year in math, they were still 1 percentage point higher than the state average.

When comparing 2013 and 2014 scores, Marion students only gained ground in eighth-grade reading and math. Marion sixth- and 10th-graders maintained the gap in reading, the data revealed.

Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn said Friday the district is analyzing the data and will try to determine what went wrong.

"At first glance at the scores, they are disappointing," Tomyn said. "But even though our scores are lower, we can't overlook the hard work of the teachers and administrators."

Tomyn noted that while the scores came in lower than expected, the fact is that "Marion County is still a great school system. We will keep our heads held high and keep coming to work every day."

Tomyn said that despite the lower scores the district does have a stellar 77 percent graduation rate and 1.7 percent dropout rate. Graduation rate is the percentage of students who graduate on time in four years. Dropout rate is the percentage of students who don't graduate.

"We are very encouraged with our end product," Tomyn said of the graduating seniors.

Board member Nancy Stacy said recently that she believes the reason for the drops is obvious.

The district intentionally violated the class-size caps this school year and cut the number of teacher aides. The end result is that classes were larger and there were fewer educators helping students.

Tomyn said while some studies reveal that larger class sizes — to a point — do not negatively affect student performance, most Marion teachers believe smaller class sizes will yield better FCAT results.

"I will say that more highly trained professionals in the classroom will make a difference," said Tomyn, who is planning on meeting the class-size caps in 2014-15.

When looking at all 16 FCAT categories combined, Marion trailed the state by 3.4 percentage points on average per category in 2013. The district trailed by 5.6 percentage points per category on average this year.

This was the last year for FCAT, which will be replaced in 2015 with a new test. The new test, created by the American Institutes for Research, is referred to as AIR. The new test will be developed with the new Common Core State Standards in mind.

The district shifted last August to the new Common Core curriculum, which focuses on critical-thinking skills and writing. Some officials have theorized one reason for lower FCAT scores may have been that teachers were focused on implementing Common Core standards and were not solely teaching to FCAT.

One district administrator was not so sure about that theory.

"I feel like all the districts statewide were having to go through the same thing," said Janet Weldon, the district's director of guidance and assessment. She said the district was diligently analyzing data on Friday and will begin reviewing what went wrong.

Crawford addressed the School Board last week about the poor third-grade scores. Crawford is especially concerned about the long-term effects.

"We had 1,700 students (in third grade) who scored Level 1 or Level 2" and will need some type of intervention, he noted Friday. That's half of all of Marion's third-graders, who need a score of Level 3 or higher to be deemed proficient in reading.

Crawford asked the district to invite Marion's second-, third- and fourth-grade teachers from poorer-performing schools to participate in a two-day roundtable this summer to review student scores.

He believes second-grade teachers can give insight on how students are taught the year before the big test, third-grade teachers can share how they prepared the students for the test and fourth-grade teachers can reveal how subpar third-grade scores affect their classrooms the next year.

"I just don't think they (Marion district administration) will create the roundtable because it wasn't their idea," Crawford said. "The idea does not seem to be gaining traction right now. We need to jump on this immediately."

Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

<p>Marion County students lost more ground on the state average at most every grade level on this year's reading, math and science FCAT, according to results released by the state Department of Education on Friday.</p><p>The release of the fourth- through 10th-grade scores comes just two weeks after the school district learned it had also lost ground in third-grade reading and math on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.</p><p>Of all 14 reading, math and science categories announced on Friday, Marion lost ground to the state in 10. Including third-grade reading and math, Marion lost ground in 12 of the 16 FCAT categories this year.</p><p>"I know they (the administration) have 1,001 excuses," School Board member Ron Crawford said Friday. "I don't want to play the blame game, but we need to immediately start looking at what happened this year. I am frustrated."</p><p>Marion County trails the state in 15 of the 16 FCAT categories. Even though Marion's eighth-graders scored 2 percentage points lower this year in math, they were still 1 percentage point higher than the state average.</p><p>When comparing 2013 and 2014 scores, Marion students only gained ground in eighth-grade reading and math. Marion sixth- and 10th-graders maintained the gap in reading, the data revealed.</p><p>Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn said Friday the district is analyzing the data and will try to determine what went wrong.</p><p>"At first glance at the scores, they are disappointing," Tomyn said. "But even though our scores are lower, we can't overlook the hard work of the teachers and administrators."</p><p>Tomyn noted that while the scores came in lower than expected, the fact is that "Marion County is still a great school system. We will keep our heads held high and keep coming to work every day."</p><p>Tomyn said that despite the lower scores the district does have a stellar 77 percent graduation rate and 1.7 percent dropout rate. Graduation rate is the percentage of students who graduate on time in four years. Dropout rate is the percentage of students who don't graduate.</p><p>"We are very encouraged with our end product," Tomyn said of the graduating seniors.</p><p>Board member Nancy Stacy said recently that she believes the reason for the drops is obvious.</p><p>The district intentionally violated the class-size caps this school year and cut the number of teacher aides. The end result is that classes were larger and there were fewer educators helping students.</p><p>Tomyn said while some studies reveal that larger class sizes — to a point — do not negatively affect student performance, most Marion teachers believe smaller class sizes will yield better FCAT results.</p><p>"I will say that more highly trained professionals in the classroom will make a difference," said Tomyn, who is planning on meeting the class-size caps in 2014-15.</p><p>When looking at all 16 FCAT categories combined, Marion trailed the state by 3.4 percentage points on average per category in 2013. The district trailed by 5.6 percentage points per category on average this year.</p><p>This was the last year for FCAT, which will be replaced in 2015 with a new test. The new test, created by the American Institutes for Research, is referred to as AIR. The new test will be developed with the new Common Core State Standards in mind.</p><p>The district shifted last August to the new Common Core curriculum, which focuses on critical-thinking skills and writing. Some officials have theorized one reason for lower FCAT scores may have been that teachers were focused on implementing Common Core standards and were not solely teaching to FCAT.</p><p>One district administrator was not so sure about that theory.</p><p>"I feel like all the districts statewide were having to go through the same thing," said Janet Weldon, the district's director of guidance and assessment. She said the district was diligently analyzing data on Friday and will begin reviewing what went wrong.</p><p>Crawford addressed the School Board last week about the poor third-grade scores. Crawford is especially concerned about the long-term effects.</p><p>"We had 1,700 students (in third grade) who scored Level 1 or Level 2" and will need some type of intervention, he noted Friday. That's half of all of Marion's third-graders, who need a score of Level 3 or higher to be deemed proficient in reading.</p><p>Crawford asked the district to invite Marion's second-, third- and fourth-grade teachers from poorer-performing schools to participate in a two-day roundtable this summer to review student scores.</p><p>He believes second-grade teachers can give insight on how students are taught the year before the big test, third-grade teachers can share how they prepared the students for the test and fourth-grade teachers can reveal how subpar third-grade scores affect their classrooms the next year.</p><p>"I just don't think they (Marion district administration) will create the roundtable because it wasn't their idea," Crawford said. "The idea does not seem to be gaining traction right now. We need to jump on this immediately."</p><p><i>Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.</i></p>